| Sammie Maxwell | |
| Fullname: | Samara Louise Maxwell |
| Birth Date: | 27 December 2001 |
| Birth Place: | Taupō, New Zealand |
| Height: | 168 cm[1] |
| Role: | Rider |
| Ridertype: | cross-country |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Samara Louise Maxwell (born 27 December 2001), generally known as Sammie Maxwell, is a cross-country cyclist from New Zealand. At the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, she became the women's under-23 cross-country world champion.
Maxwell was born on 27 December 2001[2] in Taupō.[3] She received her schooling at Taupo Intermediate School[4] and Tauhara College.[5]
In 2018 Maxwell was diagnosed as suffering from relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) which developed from an eating disorder earlier in her career. In early 2021 Maxwell was on a reduced training programme to deal with reduced energy levels.
Maxwell is based in Wellington. She studied at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with a bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences in 2023.[6] She aims to complete a PhD one day and work in cancer research.
Maxwell began mountain biking as an eight-year-old, inspired by her father who also got her brother riding.[7] She mainly competes in cross-country, but also races cyclo-cross and on the road.
Maxwell competed at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, alongside Phoebe Young in the combined team event; they came eighth.[8]
At the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, Maxwell came 14th in the junior cross-country race.[9]
At the August 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships held in Scotland's Glentress Forest, Maxwell beat the two Swiss riders who had been seen as pre-race favourites: Ginia Caluori and Ronja Blöchlinger. In the world championship race, she held a lead from the beginning.[10] She is the first New Zealander to win the U23 world title.[11]
Maxwell was not selected by Cycling New Zealand for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She took a case against the sporting body with the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand, who ruled that Cycling New Zealand "is taking a discriminatory attitude towards athletes who have eating disorders". The tribunal further found that the sporting body had made its decision based on inaccurate and outdated medical information that had not been shared with Maxwell, who therefore had no ability to have the information corrected. As the tribunal's decision was made on 15 July 2024, they said there was insufficient time to refer the case back to Cycling New Zealand, and ruled for Maxwell to be nominated for the Olympic women's cross-country event.[12]